Bloom in Asgard Side-stories
by Winxclubrocks
Summary: Side-story about 'Bloom in Asgard' - everything from between-chapter events all the way to ideas I was thinking of using. Trying to pass some time between now and the next movie. Ideas gladly accepted, Reviews welcomed eagerly - for both stories, please - and updates will try to be regular. Rated T just in case. Still don't own anything but the idea for this.
1. Picture

**AN: Alright, got kind of bored and had the idea to do this, it's everything from events that happened to Bloom between chapters all the way up to ways I toyed around with taking the story - I thought of a lot of ways for some chapters, sorry 'bout that. No particular order, it just sort of ended up that I wrote the first few chapters in-line with the timeline. Suggestions will be expanded upon, not abandoning the original story either though. This is also to kill some time between now and May - when the new Avengers movie comes out, can't wait! I really want to see Thanos get his butt kicked at some point, and I'm going to love Bloom vs. Thanos. Anyway, if you haven't read the story, you kind of have to in order to understand just about everything in the side-stories. Please review, any comments or helpful suggestions will absolutely be added in. Enjoy!**

* * *

Thor is sitting on the couch after a few rounds in the training ring when three-and-a-half-year-old Bloom comes over and excitedly says "Look what I drew! It's all of us!"

Thor doesn't have much patience for anything that doesn't have to do with a battle, a drink, or the throne of Asgard 0 but he humor's Bloom for a minute and takes the page she's holding out innocently. Sure enough, it's a drawing of the five members of the royal family, Odin and Frigga in the middle, with Thor on Odin's other side, Loki beside Frigga, and Bloom in the middle of all of them.

The proportions aren't exact, the eyes are a little big for example, but it's unmistakably them all - right down to the expressions on their faces, how can a three-year-old manage to put down _expressions_ on a drawing like this?! Thor looks bored, Odin seems wise - or that's the closest thing the expression she drew comes to - Frigga looks caring and motherly, and Loki is grinning mischievously. Bloom has a look that can only be described as angelically-innocent, like she loves all her family no matter what they do.

Thor, however, is not all that impressed - had she drawn a sword, it might have sparked an interest in him as it being a sign of a disposition for battle. "Okay, and?"

Bloom's excitement deflates at that, and the look in her eyes turns to hurt and upset. She takes the picture back from Thor sadly, and goes over to Loki and halfheartedly tugs at his pant leg. He immediately looks up from his book, and Bloom wordlessly offers him the piece of paper - he sets the book on his leg before taking the page.

After a minute, he asks "You drew this?" Bloom nods and looks at the floor. "Well, I think it's very good. Come up here, sister."

Bloom's grin returns, and she starts climbing up onto the couch until Loki picks her up and sets her down next to him. "It's us! All five of us. Do you like it?" She's got such a hopeful expression on her face that he can't say no, and she throws her arms around his torso when he says yes. "Yay! What're you reading?"

"It's a spellbook, sister. You'd probably find it boring." He can see the words on the pages don't mean much to her, but she's also only three years old and most kids start at age six - some start earlier, but most don't start reading at three. Of course, she's talking in complete sentences at three and a half, so...

"Why?"

Loki blinks, then figures out she's asking why he's reading the book. "Watch." He reads off a simple spell, and makes a ball of fire in his hand - she reaches towards it, like she does every time Frigga carries her past a torch, and he snuffs it before her fingers can get too close.

The look on her face is close to amazement, like he's just sprouted wings from his back or something, and she asks "That came from the book?"

"Not this book specifically, these are much more complicated spells. But, that was called magic. The spells in the book let me use it however I want." He halfway expects Bloom to be bored with the idea, he's hardly ever seen her stay still for more than a few moments at a time - unless Frigga's holding her, she loves to be held. She always throws her arms around the neck and head of whoever is holding or carrying her and starts talking - or sleeping, it's the same position but with her head resting on the closest shoulder.

So, it's a shock like Thor hit him with a bolt of lightning when she asks "Can you show me how?"

Loki takes a full minute to respond, saying "Maybe in a few years, sister. Magic is not to be messed with until you can control it even a little. It's dangerous, but it's a tool in the right hands. Like any tool, you have to be old enough to use it."

Bloom nods, then looks up and yells "Mother! Loki says he's going to teach me magic! And I drew a picture!" She stands up and throws her arms up to be picked up, coming to barely at Loki's nose while standing up on the couch he's sitting on, and Frigga obliges by lifting her to eyelevel.

"Did he now? Well, let's see this picture first. Then we'll talk about magic." Loki hands her the all-important picture, and Frigga says "Well, isn't this something. I think we have a decorator on our hands here. Now, what's this about Loki teaching you magic?"

Loki smiles and says "I said I'd show her a few spells when she's old enough to cast them."

"I wanna start now!" Bloom waves around the spellbook Loki put down to look at her drawing, making Loki gape in shock and Frigga laugh good-naturedly.

"Well, we have a magical decorator here. Wait…advanced spells for winning any battle? How about we start you off with something simpler, conjuring some fire for instance."

Bloom claps excitedly, and says "Alright, let's go, Mother!"

Frigga says "But, in a few years. Like Loki said. Your too young right now to be casting spells or fighting."

Bloom pouts, until Frigga says "Well, I know how to fix a look like that."

"How? Magic?"

"No, this!"

Bloom suddenly bursts out laughing, and says "No, stop! No fair! Put me down then!" while wriggling in Frigga's arms.

Frigga sets her down and says "Better run then, little flame. Because I'm coming to get you!" Bloom runs out the door laughing with Frigga chasing her and continuing to tickle her.

* * *

Once Bloom and Frigga leave, Loki glares at Thor - really, his brother is an absolute, insensitive, idiot at times. "Thor, what is wrong with you? She's three years old!"

"Loki, it's a picture. What is the big deal?" Thor honestly looks like he doesn't care, and like he doesn't get why Bloom would be so upset.

"Thor, our baby sister is three years old. The spell mother used confirmed she was only a year old when she arrived. To a three-year-old, a picture they drew is very important!"

Thor yawns and says "It is a picture, she got over it!"

"I said it was good! And, before you say it wasn't - it was. She's three, and she put _expressions_ down accurately on that page!"

"She doesn't even belong here! Mother says that at the rate she's aging, she may well be a Midgardian!"

"Thor, no Midgardian, child or adult, can use magic! That fireball I made? She manipulated it! She spoke a name at a year old! She's speaking full sentences at three and a half! She's not from Midgard, Heimdall had never seen her before she came to the Nine Realms!"

Thor scoffs, but says "And now I suppose you plan to see just how much talent she has for magic? When? When she's older?"

Loki goes very still, and says "Yes. I'll teach her magic."

"Tricks, like it'll save her life in a battle."

Loki doesn't say anything, knowing Thor's attitude on magic and how he thinks it's only tricks. Loki walks out of the room, taking his book with him.


	2. Holding Fire

**AN: Alright, Bloom's five in this, and her magic has reappeared by now. So, you'll have to forgive any lines from Bloom that sound really young or naïve, she's _five_ after all. Please, any reviews or suggestions for chapters would be great. If someone wants me to write something, just ask! Otherwise we're stuck with what's in my admittedly barely- _slightly_ -evil imagination. Good always wins out in the end, but I can think up some weird and creepy stuff - illustrated in original story, no spoilers for anyone who hasn't read that far. **

* * *

Its been around four years since Bloom fist arrived on Asgard so mysteriously, and Loki's found he absolutely adores her.

When he and Thor were young, they'd go off on their little adventures around the palace - getting into trouble, and Loki getting them out of most of it - but even then Thor was always confident that he would get the throne. He was the bigger sibling, older by only barely a year, but he was always much physically stronger than Loki - Loki always made up for it by being the smarter of the two, the one who planned ahead for stuff to go wrong.

Over time though, the two of them grew apart - Thor grew arrogant and ever-increasingly reckless, loving battle, feasting, and ever-obsessing about the throne he would someday rule from; while Loki was increasingly pushed to the side and ignored or treated like he didn't matter as much. Their friends, Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun, all tried to show Thor how arrogant he was being at times, how his ego could fill the throne room and then some, but he never really listened. Loki always had to 'know his place' - and he preferred his place be in a book somewhere quiet rather than at Thor's side to be compared to and found lacking.

All that changed when Bloom came into their lives.

Thor remained the same, but Bloom made it bearable - she saw the two of them side-by-side, and she chose Loki over Thor. The entire kingdom sees Thor as the perfect, golden prince - the one who can do no wrong, no matter what the situation is - but Bloom prefers the quiet brother who listens to her when she talks to him and is always glad to spend time with her rather than Asgard's golden boy.

Thor's arrogance stemming from his desire for the throne drove her away, and drove her right into Loki's heart as well. He can see she tries to earn Thor's favor as well, earn his pride in her - but no matter what she accomplishes, what she works to be, it never seems to be enough for Thor; for instance, her ability to know where people are in relation to her is impressive beyond belief, astounding to Loki and Frigga, but Thor merely sees it as a paltry trick that's barely worth his time. She clearly has an innate gift for magic, having picked up illusions and manipulation of fire in moments when it usually takes days if not weeks, yet Thor only sees it as a few tricks instead of skills that could save her life in a battle.

* * *

Now, he's trying to find Bloom; he and Thor watched her training today, Loki can see she's a natural at fighting as well, but at some serious disadvantages - for one, she barely comes up to their knees and is attempting to lift a sword that is as tall as she is, not to mention the fact that she's up against fully-trained Einherjar that have a thousand years of experience in battles - while Thor only scorned her for losing to the third combatant.

Defeating the first two is an impressive victory in itself to Loki, and she only lost the third in Thor's eyes because she tripped, her pendant flew off, and when she blocked the blow one of the swords exploded. None know who's sword it was that was broken, but Bloom scrambled up, and ran out of the room as fast as her legs could carry her without her tripping once again - another thing Thor constantly belittles her for.

He finds her hiding in her room, and he mainly knows she's there because the torches on either side of her bedroom door aren't burning normally - he quickly noticed Bloom's affinity with fire, something always happens with the nearest torch or fireplace when she doesn't have her necklace on and gets emotional. _G_

 _ood thing I grabbed it before coming after her. Thor, you idiot, you have no idea how powerful she might be._

Loki never ceases to be amazed at how thick-headed Thor can be. Just because he doesn't use magic, or thinks he doesn't use magic - he'd call calling Mjolnir back from where he threw it and summoning lightning from the sky _magic_ \- doesn't mean it isn't dangerous or has no place in a battle. The exploding sword should pound that point through even Thor's thick-as-rock head.

When he quietly walks into Bloom's room, he finds her sitting next to the bed, curled up in as small of a ball as possible. He breathes out a sigh of relief, and drops down to his knees to be on her level. "Sister, are you alright?"

Bloom wordlessly shakes her head no, and shuts her eyes against what he knows are more tears - the wetness on her cheeks is proof enough that Thor hurt her again with his words. Loki sighs and sits down next to her, pulling her onto his legs slowly and gently placing the chain of her beloved necklace around her neck. She stands up and throws her small arms around his neck before giving in to her tears. "Sister, sister, it's okay." _Thor, you brainless oaf. I swear you'll end up making the biggest mistake of your life one day when Bloom stops caring about what you think._

"Why, Loki? Why can't I ever be good enough for him?"

Anger burns through Loki at the question, and he says "It's the other way around, Bloom. Thor isn't good enough for you. Your too good for him, far too good to him. He just doesn't see it."

Bloom pulls back and wipes a small hand at her face, sniffling and asking "Then why does everybody love to be around him, why does everybody want to be his friends?"

Loki sighs, knowing Bloom's far too young to understand why being the Crown Prince of Asgard makes Thor so popular - all she knows right now is that he's horrible to her while everyone else strives to be Thor's friend, and they all are treated politely. "Thor's won many battles in the past, Bloom. He has many stories of adventure and battle to share - something Asgardians love. Plus, he loves ale very much. Another thing in his favor."

"So because I was born during a time of peace, and because Mother doesn't let me try any ale, Thor doesn't think I'm good enough for him?" She sounds angry now, she's always been one to feel her emotions strongly instead of suppressing them. She'll likely learn to keep her emotions off her face as she grows older, hide them to deny Thor the satisfaction of seeing her reaction to his words until she's away from him, but Loki knows for sure she'll never grow cold to Thor's insults and taunts.

"No, Sister. It means Thor's always too busy dreaming of a new battle to be a part of, or drinking so heavily he passes out, to enjoy what the times of peace have brought him. Such as a wonderful sister he should appreciate much more than he does."

Bloom hugs him again, pressing her always-warm body to his chest lovingly. "Thank you, Loki. You're the best brother ever."

Loki grins, but keeps his voice soothing as he says "And what of Thor? Your other brother?"

"You actually care about me, he doesn't. All he does is mock me for using magic."

Loki has to agree with her assumption there, from her perspective it looks like he really doesn't care about her at all. "Well, let me show you something, Bloom. Something to prove Thor wrong about magic and what it can do."

Bloom nods eagerly, always more than willing to learn something new about magic. It fascinates her to no end, ever-curious as she is - Loki doesn't blame her, the mysteries of magic intrigued him endlessly for years as well.

He takes her to the Weapons Vault, where they keep the most dangerous relics in Asgard - and all of them are magical, harness and use it for battle in one way or another.

Bloom is immediately fascinated by the objects, and, Loki has to admit, not without some reason - most of them happen to be shiny and interesting-looking, just the thing a five-year-old girl with an endless amount of curiosity would love to get a closer look at. She suddenly trips once again after he finishes explaining how each of these objects, at one point or another, aided malicious groups in attempting to conquer some or all of the Nine Realms.

Her necklace goes skidding across the floor again as he hears the small 'Oomph' he's learned to listen for, so he helps her to her feet before going to retrieve the piece of jewelry she arrived with. He just finds and picks it up when she lets out a small "Ouch!"

When he whirls around, she's standing in front of the Jotun Casket Allfather took from the Frost Giants in the last war with them and holding one hand to her chest like it's hurt.

 _Of course she'd look at one of the relics, but how'd one hurt her?_

He doesn't ask the question out loud, dropping to one knee and gently coaxing her hand out to look at it. "I just touched it…"

He gently opens it, and finds it's cold as ice while her lower arm is as warm as ever. "Alright, I bet I know what will help some."

He places her necklace around her neck again, and picks her up to go stand by the nearest torch. She holds her hand out towards it, then sighs in relief and says "It's getting better…"

Her hand isn't just cold, it's stinging horribly and feels like there's some power in it that really shouldn't be there - the power of the Casket, and it _hurts_.

* * *

The heat of the fire helps soothe the sting, but her hand still hurts when Frigga puts her to bed that night with a kiss on the forehead. When Bloom senses her walking away, she climbs out of her bed and goes over to the fireplace that's always got a fire in it.

Her hand is starting to hurt again, and no matter how long she sits on it to warm it, it doesn't go away fully. Without even thinking about what she's doing, she takes her necklace off and plunges her hand in the fire - something she's always felt like she was supposed to do, that feels _right_.

Everybody keeps telling her to stay away from the fire, that fire is dangerous and will hurt her if she gets too close - it feels amazing, a rush of energy up her arm that burns away the pain in her hand and leaves her feeling like she could stay awake all night.

 _Mother told me that magic can manipulate fire, but that it was a dangerous tool that should be used cautiously. That it was closer to a wild Bilgesnipe than a tool - like as not to turn on the one who used it as the one it's being used against. But this…this is more like an old friend…_

Deciding to try an experiment, Bloom closes her hand and draws it out - pulling out a ball of fire in her fist. She's far too young to realize that not even Frigga and Loki can do this, hold fire in their hand they didn't conjure without pain or a feeling of heat - what she does know is that the ball of fire in her hand doesn't hurt her in the slightest, she doesn't even feel any heat, she feels energy in and around her hand that she's somehow keeping there.

It's the same energy that comes from everyone else constantly, that's in the torches and fireplaces, in the freshly-cooked foods that are always on the feast hall when she gets there - the same energy that's constantly drawing her to torches when she's close enough or the fireplace and try to touch it. It's heat, warmth, and she can do what she wants with it. The implications of her discovery pass her by completely, not occurring to her that she can pull energy out of the very air to use or that she could raise her own body temperature if she wanted.

She goes looking for Loki and Frigga to show them her newest magical discovery - the two people that will appreciate and praise it.

She finds Loki alright, walking down the halls towards the feast hall to ask someone where they are. She breaks into a grin as he stops dead in his tracks - he runs over and slides onto the floor on his knees. "Bloom! What are you doing? How did this happen?"

"I picked it up! And my hand stopped hurting!"

She sounds so delighted to tell him this that Loki can't imagine she's in pain - he also can't imagine that it's real fire she's holding then. That idea burns to death when he puts his hand near hers - there's heat radiating off her hand, definitely fire she's holding then. "How about we go put that back in…where did you get that?"

"The fireplace! Isn't that a good thing?"

"Is your hand hurting from the fire that should be turning it black at the moment?"

"No."

"Then it's not bad. You must be using magic to protect yourself. So, it's a good thing."

"Yay!"

Loki's head is spinning, Bloom's _holding fire_ and not feeling a thing. He's going to have to ask Frigga about this, but right now he has to get Bloom back into bed.

He does, and watches in pure amazement as she sticks her hand back in the fireplace and it comes out without a scratch. Loki immediately takes her hand and starts examining it, but it's not even warmer than normal. Her hand looks completely fine, a mystery for tomorrow though - it's late at night, and he's not going to get any magical-mystery solving done right now.


	3. Shaping Fire

Bloom's seven now, and her trick with holding fire never went away or was forgotten.

She quickly discovered that only she can touch fire and be unharmed - and she alone knows she can shape it into any form she wants. At first, she was going to tell them - then, she thought of what Thor would say or do if she told him she could shape the fire from a torch into whatever she wanted. That thought, the thought of more belittlement and scorn from him, is enough to make her keep this little ability to herself - at least for now, she's never planned on keeping it a secret indefinitely.

She's walking out of the training room now, fed up with Thor's disregard for all the work she's put into trying to learn to use a weapon. Ever since she picked up her first sword, Thor was convinced she had no hope of ever being any good at it.

She can still remember that day, she tried to pick up the sword in front of her with one hand like she sees everyone else do all the time, the tip of the sword never left the ground. When she grasped it with both hands, the end of the sword went up into the air - then started wavering as she tried to hold it still, earning mockery and scornful laughter from Thor.

Now, she can hold the sword perfectly still - as opposed to when she was attempting to lift a weapon that was as tall as she was; but he still thinks she is worthless with a sword, that's when Sif stepped in and started teaching her herself. That particular description hurts worse than most he makes, so she didn't tell everything she can do in earshot of him - he'll likely say it's got no worth either.

Loki always says Thor belittles anything he can't do, but Bloom thinks a king should have much more of an open mind - would there have been a peace treaty with the Jotuns if Allfather had Thor's mindset at the time? Bloom seriously doubts it, she's heard him say the Frost Giants should fear him as they fear Allfather.

Bloom can hear footsteps coming down the hallway as she turns out of it, too heavy to be Loki or Frigga's - who were also watching her training along with Allfather and Thor - and it's too hurried to be Allfather; so it's got to be Thor.

 _Mother and Father likely made him come and apologize, too bad this isn't just once or twice. I really don't want to talk to him though._

She gets a grin on her face, and remembers her brothers' infamous trick - 'get help!' Loki would pretend to be hurt while Thor dragged him, then Thor would throw him into whoever they wanted to get away from. Demeaning and embarrassing to Loki, and it got them into massive amounts of trouble every time they used it - as they were making it out to be Loki was _dying_.

Bloom can't exactly do that, or any variation of it, for a number of reasons though: all stemming from the fact that she has no partner to do it with.

 _Making a big commotion just gets you caught in the end, something quiet however…_

She has already mastered illusions from Loki by now, so what she's thinking is no stretch of the mind: an illusion covering her, one of empty air. She's not entirely sure how she does it, she just imagines something and it appears - so if she imagines she's not there…

Thor pounds around the corner, looking around for his little sister - his eyes pass right over her, despite the fact that she's in the middle of the wall. "That girl and her magic, where could she have gone off to already?"

Bloom can't fail to stifle her laughter, and quickly makes it so that her illusion blocks the sound from getting to Thor's ears.

 _This is perfect. I can become invisible with none the wiser._

All she has to do is be careful of where she does this and where she drops the illusion. She makes her way to the library, where she immediately drops the cover once she's safely hidden away in the bookshelves with her books that have never once made her feel small or not worth the effort - because that's what Thor said this time, she wasn't worth the time and effort of trying to train her. She stormed out of the training ring, justifiably so, and everyone is probably looking for her.

She's on about the dozenth story when Loki comes in the room looking for her - unsurprisingly, he finds her. "Bloom, where have you been? Mother, Father, and I have been looking everywhere for you."

Bloom sighs and says "I came here, Brother, when I left the Training Ring."

"If it's any consolation for Thor's words, Mother and Father were furious with him, and disappointed."

Bloom says "Well, wonder how many times they'll be disappointed when he takes the throne."

Loki shakes his head, and says "You know it's still a possibility they won't choose him."

"He's the Firstborn, Loki. Besides, I don't want to be Ruler of the Nine Realms anyway, it sounds really boring and like a lot of work - Father is always on the throne most days." She has a point, and she's always been too hyperactive to stay still for more than a few minutes when she's not reading or concentrating on magic.

Loki sits down next to her, and asks "You feel like you're in Thor's shadow, the shadow of his glory and greatness that everyone else it too blinded by, don't you?"

Bloom looks at Loki, and seems to see something in his expression - hyperactive or not, Bloom's always been extremely smart, along with compassionate and almost empathic at times. "I'll be your light, Loki. I'll be your glory. I'll master magic like you, and then you'll be able to say 'I taught her everything she knows.'"

Loki smiles despite himself, and pulls Bloom into a hug - she really knows how to say exactly what he needs to hear sometimes, this was definitely one of those times. He's felt like he's just living in Thor's shadow for years, getting no glory or recognition for his own talents - somehow Bloom manages to say the stuff that means the most to him without even realizing it.

Somewhere between now and when she first turned invisible, she decided to keep this particular trick of hers a secret - Loki already taught her to keep a trick or two up her sleeve, this can be her trick - _nobody_ , literally, will see it coming.

When she pulls out of her hug, she's got a gleam in her eye that can only mean she's learned something new in magic. He smiles at her, and says "Bloom, while you may be good at keeping your emotions off your face for Thor, you can't hide that look in your eye from me. You've figured out something new, haven't you?"

Bloom's lips form a huge grin, and she says "We'll need a torch, Brother." They go to her room instead, where they can do this uninterrupted by anyone - Thor, in particular.

Loki's long since stopped worrying when Bloom grabs handfuls of fire by now, he's seen her do it more times than he can remember now - the shock wears off after a while - and so he doesn't freak when she pulls out as much of the flames as she can hold. He does go still in shock when she starts shaping the fire like a forge master shapes a blade however, she never ceases to have some new shocking revelation when he thinks she's shown him everything.

She molds it into a knife the length of her upper arm, then swings it around in an imitation of Sif's sword swings. It acts like it's perfectly balanced for her, but Loki can guess anyone else will only feel a burned hand - it even acts like a sword would when in her hand, not dissipating when it hits the ground by accident. Of course, it immediately falls to a bunch of dying embers on the floor when she accidentally nearly hits Loki because he got too close. "Bloom, that's…incredible! Do you have any idea of what this means?"

Bloom innocently shakes her head, then turns and grabs another handful of fire to shape. He can see her eyes flashing orange, but shrugs it off as the firelight - which she shapes into a circlet that's the size of Loki's head. "I know Thor's going to get the throne of Asgard, Brother. The crown, any woman he wants for a queen…"

She trails off, and Loki asks "So what's this? Because it won't fit your head." "It's yours. Your crown - because I think you'd make a better king than Thor right now. You listen to me, you talk to me while Thor talks down to me. You care about me while Thor only cares about getting onto the Throne and getting into another fight."

Loki smiles, and says "You'd make an excellent queen. Like father says, you were born to be one."

Bloom shakes her head, and says "But I don't want to be one, Brother. If the throne turns people arrogant and uncaring like Thor, then I don't want anything to do with that boring old chair. I'd rather be in the library, practicing magic with you." She holds up the circlet she's finished making, saying "So, this is yours. Do you like it?"

Loki smiles and says "It's lovely, Sister." When he puts a finger near it, he can feel the intense heat radiating off it. "Bloom, I think you'd better wear it for me though. Remember the sword?"

Bloom nods, and sadly begins shortening it to fit her head instead - making it turn from bright orange like her hair to nearly white with fire and heat. When she places it on her head, it stays there perfectly - but she hates the very idea of it. Sighing, she tosses it back into the fire where it promptly dissolves back into flames when it stops having physical contact with her.

* * *

 **AN: Seriously people, any suggestions would be great! If someone wants to see something, just message me! Yes, it just worked out that way that they're going in order at the moment, but it really doesn't have a particular order. Enjoy, can't wait until May and the next Avengers movie!**


	4. First Pizza

**AN: Alright, now this is picking up speed. Still haven't gotten any suggestions or requests for something, so I came up with this. Keep in mind that Bloom's never actually lied yet to anyone - she works around that by being vague enough that people assume what they want. Loki taught her well. Enjoy! Please give a suggestion if you have one!**

* * *

It's been about a week since Bloom and her new friends started classes at Alfea, and she finds she's pretty good at this 'college' stuff. It's definitely easier than trying to fight the Einherjar at age five, and not nearly as daunting either. Of course, given the fact that Techna is literally the smartest person she knows…

Bloom looks up as Flora opens the door to their shared room, saying "Bloom, you ready to go?"

"Go? Oh, right, to town. Yeah, coming!" She jumps up off the bed, grateful for the distraction from her thoughts - she could tell they were heading straight to Loki again, almost any topic eventually brings her around to the brother she lost.

In all truth, she doesn't blame anyone completely - Thor, a little, because the whole mess started out as Loki getting back at Thor for his arrogance and ego - but everything she sees or does that reminds her even a little of Asgard leads somehow straight to what Loki would think or do.

Right now, they're going out to get Bloom a phone, and then go for some kind of food called pizza - something she's never heard of before, but isn't going to say that - and that's good because there's no way that can remind her of her brother in any way. When they get down to the pizza place, Bloom's immediately hit with the most amazing smell of food.

 _Oh. My. Entities. This smells amazing!_

They order their pizzas, and the first bite is like heaven to Bloom - why don't they have pizza on Asgard?! Bloom gets a sausage pizza with extra cheese - and is completely convinced she's never tasted something so good in her whole life.

All four other girls are staring at her after her third piece weirdly, and she hesitantly asks "What?"

Flora says "You act like you've never had pizza before!"

Bloom nervously smiles and wipes the pizza sauce off her face before saying, "Um, yeah. They don't have pizza back home. Sorry." She still hasn't told them the specifics about her childhood, both because Loki's death is still too fresh in her mind even after so many weeks and because of Daphne's warning in her head - the warning that nobody here even knows of the Realm Eternal or her people. She really doesn't want her new friends to think she's a liar or a weirdo, so she's kept quiet about the specific details of her past - where _exactly_ she grew up and came from, the names of her brothers, etc.

Musa says "Well, we happen to love pizza here - it's practically a staple of people's diets here."

Techna automatically says "No, that's actually false. Pizza just happens to be really delicious, not a main part of a balanced diet. That would be-"

Musa interrupts, saying "Techna, I wasn't being that serious! I just meant pizza's really good so people eat a lot of it!"

"…Oh. Right. I'm not that used to expressions yet."

Techna's cheeks flush a light pink that matches her hair, and Stella jokingly says "Besides, I bet _Sky_ likes pizza as well."

Now it's Bloom's turn to blush, she can feel her cheeks matching _her_ hair perfectly. She takes another bite off the slice of pizza in front of her, and asks "What about Sky?"

"We can all see you blushing! Just like at the party we threw! Don't try to say you don't like him, Bloom!"

Bloom can feel her face going even redder, and says "We talked for a few minutes, Stella! That doesn't mean anything…" She takes another bite of her pizza, then tries the soda they got her and immediately starts sucking it down.

 _Why, oh why, don't they have this stuff on Asgard?!_

She quickly realizes everyone at the table is staring at her, and Musa asks "No soda back home either, huh?"

"Yeah…"

Stella enthusiastically says "Well, we'll have to make up for that then!" She orders another pizza to go, and they head back to Alfea - with Bloom carrying the steaming pizza easily in her arms.

When they get back to Alfea, they find the boys from the party are there in the courtyard for a visit. Stella runs over to Brandon at once, Techna and Timmy start looking up games on their phones they can play together, etc. Riven is as cold as the last time he was there, and Sky is as warm and friendly as before as well. Bloom looks at the floor, at the walls, at the pizza in her arms - anywhere and at anything but the blonde boy who makes her heart nearly beat out of her chest every time she glances his way.

"Hey, you want me to hold that?"

Bloom suddenly snaps back to reality, only to find Sky's maybe a foot away and offering to hold the pizza box in her arms. Bloom immediately squeaks out, "Um, no! It's fine, really." She can feel her entire face go red with embarrassment, why did her voice have to go so high?!

 _Great job, Bloom. Really, best way to make a fool of yourself in front of him._

"Isn't that hot though? I can see the steam coming off the box." Sky tries to take the box out of her hands, and accidentally brushes her arm - it's like he's just hit her with one of that curly-haired witch's spells, or something.

Bloom jerks back and hastily says "N-no, it's fine. Fire powers and all. I should-I should get back to the dorm. Put the pia away, meet you guys - girls! - up there. Um, bye. Nice seeing you again, Sky - guys!" Bloom practically runs into the building, hoping against hope that Sky didn't see her blush spreading down to what felt like the bottoms of her toes. She quietly mutters just loud enough for herself to hear "Stupid, stupid, I'm so stupid!" _Great job, really, are you just trying to make a fool of yourself, Bloom?_

* * *

In the courtyard, Sky's staring where Bloom ran in the building like he's torn between going after her or not. Stella bursts out laughing, saying "Well, that happened!"

Flora says "Stella! Could you be a little more sensitive?"

Techna says "Bloom usually isn't nearly that self-conscious - and the temperature went up about four degrees in maybe a minute, a sign of Bloom's nervousness."

Stella sings out "Someone's in _loove!_ "

Sky sighs, and says "Look, Stella, we've known each other for years. I know you're trying to play matchmaker between Bloom and I, but-"

"But what? You said it yourself, you like Bloom - and from the twenty different shades of red her face turns every time your mentioned, she's head-over-wings for you!"

Sky hasn't told them just yet about the arranged marriage between him and Diaspro - which he's currently trying to get out of, since beforer he met Bloom - but right now he's trying to have her as a friend, liking her or not - and besides, all he told Stella was that Bloom was pretty, not that he was in love with her or anything. He asked Stella if she could introduce him to Bloom and maybe help them be friends - but Bloom seems really shy around him, and Stella's jumping to conclusions about why.

As for him, he can't stop thinking about her, he thinks she's the hottest girl he's ever met, but he's not going to cheat on Diaspro. "Stella, I just want her to be a friend at the moment. I know you think we're going to be the next rulers of Eraklyon and all, but-"

"But? But what?"

"But she can't or won't say two words to me without running off and her face going as red as a stop light!"

Flora says "Look, she lost her brother a few months ago, then she moves here, let's just give her some time. Speaking of which, I'll go after her. We might've finished up homework, but Bloom seems really interested in Scrying for some reason. Maybe to keep in touch with the rest of her family, I don't know though."

Techna says "Either way, she isn't finding whatever or whoever she's looking for - I've seen her nearly break down at points."

Stella says "Look, she saved all our lives when she came up with the idea to make the monster the Trix summoned slip on soap and knock itself out in the auditorium - and she saved my life before that by hitting it over the head with that broom. I say we-"

Musa interrupts, saying "Yeah, we remember. She's fast on her feet and knows how to fight."

 _"THAT'S IT!"_

Musa covers her ears and glares at Stella, and everyone else is looking at her like she's just sprouted rabbit ears. Flora asks "What's it?"

"Bloom knows how to fight! Maybe we can use that to find some common ground with Sky!"

Sky asks "How? And exactly how is that going to get her any more comfortable even talking to me?"

Timmy says "Well, we could ask her to spar with us. Say it's practice for Red Fountain training."

Techna hits a few buttons on her phone, and says "Well, that has a sixty-seven percent chance of working. It increases to seventy-eight percent chance if Sky doesn't go first - give her a round or two to get into it, or more relaxed." She takes Sky's phone for a moment, and types in a new contact number - Bloom's. They already shared theirs during the party - which is when they realized B, which is when Bloom said she forgot some stuff back home and most things there weren't nearly as advanced as here.

Musa says "We'll give her all your info when we see her, along with ours, and then pass along the invitation of her sparring with you all."

Riven snorts sarcastically, and says "She hit that thing over the head, that doesn't prove anything."

Techna says "Nobody else had any luck fighting it, while she got it to let go of Stella in one blow. The chances of her being the best at hand-to-hand fighting in this school are ninety-two percent, given the fact that her adopted parents seemed to think it was important that she know how to defend herself."


	5. Sparring and Ice Cream

Bloom flew out to Red Fountain maybe two weeks after the phone/pizza run, having gotten an invitation from Brandon to help them spar and maybe be ready for midterm tests - one of which is a practical, meaning they have to prove they actually know how to do the stuff they've been learning instead of just writing about it on a piece of paper. Bloom bought it completely, mainly because she has to do something similar for Alfea's tests.

Sky's brain nearly melts when he sees her Charmix form, he really wishes he could get up enough nerve to do anything more than make small talk with her - he felt her stiffen immediately when his hand accidentally brushed her arm when he tried to take that hot pizza box, he also felt a massive amount of energy shoot up his arm like electricity though electrical wiring.

Sky's nervously waiting for the round Bloom's currently fighting to be over - Riven went first, then Brandon, and he's up next - and wow, Bloom can use a sword!

She holds one that's as balanced as she could find like she's been using them for years - and a very large part of his brains says she makes the expression 'hot' literal on every level - and he really, really, _really_ wants to know just how she learned to disarm a Red Fountain student so easily.

As if life read his mind, Brandon's sword gets buried in the dirt three feet behind him. Sky can't help but nearly crack up when Riven grumbles something about her being really lucky - he's just mad that she disarmed him as easily as she just did Brandon.

When he goes out to face her, her eyebrows climb into her hairline impressively, but she doesn't say a word - or run away, thankfully.

Timmy says "Alright, go!"

They clash swords, and Sky takes a swing at her and it gets blocked - he quickly learns she's fast on her feet and every bit as smart as Timmy and Techna when it comes to battle. They have the edge on her in random facts and statistics - Bloom has the advantage on them when it comes to battling someone, coming up with strategies and plans in the middle of a fight. He also learns she's not the most balanced, but she makes up for it by going on the offensive early - and she quickly figures out his personal fighting style.

Soon enough, he can't get a swing in that isn't either dodged, blocked, or countered - and the fact that he's hyper-aware of certain details about her doesn't help his concentration at all. The way she seems warmer than others, or how her fiery hair makes her creamy skin look even paler by comparison, or how every thought and emotion is shown in her eyes.

 _Jeez, Sky, you barely know her! Get your head in the game already! Besides, your still engaged to Diaspro, remember?_

A little detail he's still working on fixing, especially given the fact that he never wanted the arranged marriage anyway. She was a good friend when they were kids, but she changed ever since they started 'dating' - and not for the better. She was always a little shallow, and insistent that they do what she wanted - but now it's gone to a whole new level. He always has to do exactly what he wants and is constantly being forced to choose between spending time with his forced-fiancé or his friends at Red Fountain - and honestly, he'd rather spend time with his friends.

Sky's pulled out of his thoughts roughly when Bloom nearly knocks the sword out of his grip, then slashes downward and hits the flat of her sword and slides down it. She eventually disarms him fairly quickly, but it's definitely the longest match so far. He ends up backed against a wall with her maybe a foot in front of him, both of them out of breath and trying to recover. _W_

 _ow, she's so beautiful - wait, stop. You hardly know her, and she's probably got someone waiting for her back home._

The thought sends a pang of jealousy through Sky, though he tries to quash it fast - it's probably either a good or bad sign that he's feeling jealous at the thought of Bloom having a boyfriend back wherever her home is.

* * *

Once the training session is over, Sky goes up to Bloom - she's putting the borrowed weapon back in its spot with the others, and says "I know your there." She hasn't even turned around, yet somehow she sounds like she really does know he's there.

 _Did I make a noise coming over? Or…_

Bloom turns around after a moment, and says "I can sense people, some part of having power over fire. Any source of heat, I can sense - open fires, people, you know…" She clears her throat after trailing off, and asks "Something you wanted?"

"Yeah…you fought well, really well."

Bloom blushes once again, and says "My thanks, then."

Sky wonders at the specific phrasing, but switches to the idea he thought of. "You want to get some ice cream? There's a shop in Magix City that makes the best."

Bloom takes a minute to respond, and finally says "Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you, Sky."

Sky swears her face has gone even redder than before, which is really hard to do as it was already almost as red as it's possible to get. He takes a step back, and she gives him a grateful look for it.

Twenty minutes later, they're sitting across from one another with two bowls of ice cream on the table. She looks at it almost warily, before having a spoonful - then she starts digging in like she's never had ice cream before.

 _Okay, first pizza and now ice cream. Where did she come from?_

Sky doesn't ask, eating some of his own bowl instead - at least it looks like she clearly likes ice cream, vanilla at least.

* * *

 **AN: Yes, Asgardians are clearly missing out on the best things in life - Pizza, Ice cream, video games, etc. From what I could tell in the movies, they don't have much in the way of downtime - or sweets of any kind. Bloom just can't take a bowl of ice cream back home, or she'll never get so much as a spoonful! Anyway, as for the chapter, Bloom and Sky still hardly know each other, etc. She really didn't mean to fall for him, and vice versa, but hey, life happens right? As for how she disarmed the Red Fountain boys, she just knows different moves than them. She could have just as easily been disarmed if they had gone on the offensive earlier than she had - another thing she learned from Sif and Frigga. Enjoy! More updates for both chapters coming soon!**


	6. Dancing Lesson

**AN: Sorry about the wait, but next chapter is here! It's a short one, sorry again - but I'll make the next one extra long to make up for it! Seeing as Bloom had to learn to dance at all on the fly during that party in the dorm, I figured why not have Sky teach her to slow-dance with a partner? Kind of cute, no fluff, hope you all like it.**

* * *

Stella and Musa got everyone to go out to a club in Magix city, Bloom didn't even find out the name of the place before she was trapped in her and Flora's room with Stella to pick out a dress to go in. Honestly, Bloom is convinced she's never seen, much less worn, less practical - or comfortable - clothing than the dress and heels Stella made her wear; her feet are killing her, and she feels extremely ridiculous.

Now, she's sitting at a table with Techna, and Timmy with a lemonade and seriously hoping Stella doesn't come over and try to drag her onto the dance floor - she's convinced she'd never find her way back out of the dance floor, both from getting lost in the crowd and from falling on her face from getting crashed into. Her balance improved some when she started using her wings more, but she doesn't currently have them to rely on.

Sky comes over to the large table they all filled up and sees she's still sitting there. "Thought you'd be out on the floor, Bloom."

Bloom's traitorous face goes its usual bright red whenever Sky talks to her, and she says "Um, yeah, about that…"

"What's wrong? Break a heel or something?"

"No, it's just…I can't. Dance, that is."

Sky's look turns worried, and he asks "Why not? Something wrong?"

"No, I…don't know how." Bloom waits for the sarcastic remark to come, like it did from Thor whenever she couldn't do something that was so obvious to everyone else. Sky looks a lot like Thor, but he doesn't act much like the Thor she's used to - but she's long since learned people can be very deceiving, and not to trust first appearances.

Instead, Sky says "Well, I'll show you." He grabs her wrist and manages to pull her out onto the dance floor as the song changes to a slow-dance.

 _Perfect, how am I going to get out of this?!_

Bloom doesn't have any time to panic as Sky guides her hand to his shoulder. "Okay, your hand goes here, and I put my hand on the same side on your waist. And then our other hands go together."

Before Bloom knows it, she and Sky are swaying together and maybe an inch apart - something entirely new to her. "Um…this is-"

"Dancing. You've really never danced before?"

"Not…not like this. Nobody's real big on dancing back home."

Bloom blushes and looks away, and Sky curiously says "But they teach you how to defend yourself."

"Yeah, they teach you that." _Mostly for men, most women never learn to fight. Mother thought I should know though, and so I did._

Bloom doesn't say the thought, but Sky seems to read something in her face. "Something wrong Bloom?"

"Hm? No, just thinking. About home, my mother mostly. I…I miss her."

The song suddenly ends, and Bloom realizes with a start that the entire song passed and she didn't trip once - quite a feat for her, honestly. She also doesn't remember the dance itself, she was talking to Sky during most of it.

After a few more dances, Bloom's convinced that she's pushed her luck far enough with her feet - it's a miracle she hasn't fallen on her face yet, considering all the spinning, dipping, and other dance moves she's been shown.

 _Wow, I'm so very glad I've been in combat training since I was five - because dancing is a workout! A weird one._

Bloom goes to sit down back at the table, and finds Timmy and Techna engrossed in a game together - and then the thought of what Loki would think of all this pops into her head and ruins her whole night. Bloom can feel her happiness turning into despair and sorrow like someone put a spell on her, and hastily scrawls on a note that she's headed back to Alfea for the others to find. She gets out just before her tears escape her eyes, and she teleports back to Alfea before anyone can notice her.

* * *

The rest of the girls get back about an hour later, but Bloom's already back in the dorm and fast asleep. She was crying over the picture of him it took a straight week to make right - she kept breaking down in tears every time she got any work done on it, unsurprisingly. By the time all her friends got back to the apartment, the sketchbook was lying cover-up on Bloom's stomach and she was laying back on the bed.


	7. Loki's Return

**AN: ALright, a chapter from Loki's perspective - and it's what happened during New York! I thought I'd shed a little light on exactly why he invaded - which he never actually told anyone in the movies other than 'I want to have a throne!' The way he reacted to Thor's question of who was controlling him gave me a great idea - Thanos. He gave Loki the Spear, why not a reason to just hand over the Tesseract instead of betraying him like in GotG?* Movie Spoiler, sorry!**

* * *

Loki can't believe it, he's back on Midgard after so long. He's close to home, close enough at any rate.

Thanos said he'd be searching for the Infinity Stones, and destroy anyone who gets in his way of finding them. From what Loki knows of the guy, very little even after a year, the guy is ruthless, brutally efficient, and has the power to back up any threat he makes. Oh, and he's pure evil.

Loki has no idea where most of the Infinity Stones are, but some fools on Midgard activated the one Thanos calls the Space Stone - which is currently known to the Midgardians as the Tesseract.

 _Alright, all I have to do is ship this thing off to Thanos with his multiple-handed minion, and then he'll go off searching for the rest of his precious pebbles without me. I can rule Midgard, Thanos will search forever for the rest of these things, and…and Bloom will be safe._

That's the real reason why he agreed to help Thanos, not all the death threats to him or the idea that he could defeat Odin - an impossible feat, or at least a hard-fought battle - and raze Asgard. No, it was the thought of his younger sister, the one person who chose him over Thor consistently, going up against Thanos that broke him.

Thanos broke him during the year he was away from Asgard, he spent months getting nearly every secret Loki held dear - ripping them away like bandages over wounds closed by dried blood. Suffice it to say Thanos is very efficient at making people spill their secrets, but the one he never got out of Loki was his younger sister, Bloom. She's probably the only person who would sacrifice herself to keep him safe, to stop Thanos - and Loki knows without a doubt he can't let Thanos find out about her.

He seems to have no idea of her, and Loki has no intention of ever changing that state of things - if Bloom fell into Thanos's hands, well, he's met his 'daughters' before. Girls he took from civilizations he's razed and trained to be his personal assassins. Nebula is more machine than flesh and blood by now, and Gamora is more skilled in weapons and killing than even someone on Asgard - both a result of Thanos.

The day Loki lets something like that happen to Bloom is the day he'll have gone insane and lost every bit of his feelings. All he has to do to keep Thanos away from the Nine Realms, away from his sister who's more important to him than almost anyone else, is get him the Tesseract - she'll probably be mad at him, but he'll gladly take her being mad at him over her being enslaved like Gamora and Nebula or killed.

He'll apologize a thousand times over for leaving, all over again for giving Thanos what he wanted, so long as she doesn't go anywhere near him. Even now, he still tries to protect his favorite sister from what's out there.

* * *

Loki can't believe the turn recent events have taken. He was making a distraction for Barton to get the Iridium needed to let the Chitauri into Midgard via a portal using the Tesseract, and then Bloom showed up literally out of nowhere and then fainted.

Then, a man who was born over seventy years before but looks like he's in his thirties showed up, one Captain America, along with a man in a suit of metal and glowing lights.

Loki surrendered, seeing Bloom was starting to stir and hoping to keep her out of a fight with these two - and then she summoned the Spear he was given, despite his attempt at keeping it from her, and somehow her magic reacted really badly to it.

Now, they've got her strapped into a seat in the jet with them, he's being taken in for questioning, and Bloom is still unconscious and holding onto the glowing end of the spear in a grip that has to be magical - because Steve Rogers, as Loki heard him called, tried and failed to wrest it from her, and he's as strong as Thor comparatively.

When they all hear her voice coming from the speakers in the jet, Loki feels every drop of blood head straight to his toes in distress - though he hides it from them, the last thing he wants is to let on how important Bloom is to him.

When she starts talking to people though, he's incredibly glad she's always been so very smart - she doesn't tell them how she knows him, doesn't give away anything. She always figured out more on her own than he and Frigga could teach her, and never before has he been so grateful for this. Her casual description of him hurts, but it's nothing compared to the wave of relief he feels when she suddenly moans and the speakers cut to static once again. There's a massive storm brewing now, and Loki can guess exactly why that is: Thor is here, right now.

 _Allfather must have sent him using Dark Energy, which might be why Bloom moaned. If it is, it was perfect timing._

Sure enough, Thor comes through the open hatch a moment later and drags him out into the wind and rain - he doesn't even get a chance to tell Thor Bloom is in the other seat, and Thor apparently didn't notice her.

When Thor tries to interrogate him, Loki simply dodges around the questions and gives Thor info that doesn't help - but he loses his calm when Thor asks who controls him.

If he tells Thor, Bloom will undoubtedly learn as well; and given the development of her magic, sprouting _wings_ from her back no less, she'd more than likely fly off into the portal he's having made and attempt to stop Thanos. So instead, he pretends to react to Thor's jab about him being a fake king. But the fact that Bloom hasn't been in the Nine Realms since he left is more worrying than anything else to Loki - where in all of creation did his little sister fly off to when he left?!

* * *

Loki's watching what is proving to be a spectacular beat-down between Thor and the one called Stark, until Rogers jumps in and says to stop.

Then, Bloom reappears in her outfit Fandral wouldn't be able to resist when not in a crisis and attempts to get their attention. When all else fails, she throws two balls of fire at them - _when did she start generating the fire?!_ \- and one explodes and throws them all back.

The fact that he sees her throw her arms around Thor's neck hurts him, but at least Thor has finally got his head out of his ego and started paying attention.

* * *

Loki definitely must have hit his head on a rock when Thor threw him onto that rock, or Bloom hit hers when she fainted - because he definitely doesn't remember her being this much of a talker.

She's been talking nonstop about where she's been and what she's been doing - along with stuff about Rogers, the Tesseract, and some things called ice cream, pizza, music, and dancing - but her eyes are huge and she's paler than normal and keeps glancing at him like he's going to suddenly disappear.

When they finally convince her to at least sit down for the rest of the flight, she ends up unconscious and leaning on Thor's shoulder in a matter of moments - apparently, the nonstop talking was a cover for her hysteria, not very surprising. What is surprising to him and Thor both is that she has a blood-sister, one they've never met before and who is currently a spirit living under a lake.

Loki's given up trying to comprehend the magic required to strip a person of their body, but Bloom seems determined to reverse that state of affairs.

* * *

When Bloom comes in the room Agent Fury left him alone in, inside a glass container meant to hold a creature far stronger than him, she immediately starts yelling at him for jumping off the Bifrost.

Loki didn't think it was possible for someone to go a full minute yelling at someone without taking a breath of air in, Bloom's just proven him wrong there. Her face goes through multiple shades of red as she yells, telling him in no uncertain terms she thought he was dead, he could have gotten himself killed, she tried to find him ever since she learned how to, he let her think he was dead, etc.

Loki feels a sharp stab of guilt at the thought that he _let_ her think he was dead, but he can't argue with her perspective - or with her period, as it'll just set off another explosive tirade from her about how he's never allowed to do something so stupid and suicidal ever again.

When Romanoff comes in to get his plan out of him, Bloom has at least stopped the painful-looking practice of what she calls teleporting - which, right now, is slamming herself into the walls hard enough to dent them - and moved on to levitating objects. He can tell she's trying to tune the world out, so he tears Romanoff's plan apart ruthlessly - but Bloom apparently heard him, and he can tell he went too far for her when every object she was floating suddenly goes flying too fast to see.

Bloom and Romanoff both hit the ground, Bloom with an orange energy bubble around her, and wait for the objects to stop bouncing around the room. Romanoff leaves thinking he's planning on doing something to Bruce Banner, a man who was altered by fatal amounts of some kind of radiation - he should be dead, instead of occasionally turning into a giant green rage monster that can level an entire city without getting scratched.

* * *

Once Bloom is out for good for a while, Loki gets the job of convincing the mercenaries Barton found to not kill her - she scared quite a bit of them with her performance, defeating six of them all on her own with nothing but her magic and her wits.

She's gotten far stronger than he knew was even possible, making ropes out of fire at just a few words and using them to suspend a heavy cage in the air. Thor's look said he never once imagined magic, or Bloom, could be so dangerous; Loki's trying to think of how he could convince her to help - he knows his sister, and he knows she'll never help with the invasion of an innocent and unknowing city. She's exactly the same in that aspect, right down to her core.

All the mercenaries are still alive, they just have some very interesting stories to tell of how a sixteen-year-old girl with wings and a short, sparkly skirt beat them all without even touching them - and how she was toying with some of them, to boot.

Loki couldn't help but be proud of her at that, looks like she learned a few things aside from illusions from him after all.

But how he's going to get her to work with him without resorting to the Spear is another problem entirely - he's already loathe to use it on her, and her magic's reaction to its power simply provides the perfect reason for everyone else.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Loki can't believe they didn't get him as soon as they even thought she might have been stirring - she escaped, likely started this monstrous storm, and now everyone is getting soaked to the bone and completely lost.

 _Of all the times for her to figure out something new, she had to pick now to figure out her teleporting._

Loki's equal parts proud and frustrated, but he can't really blame her for running when she woke up tied to a chair - which was the mercenaries' idea, not his.

* * *

They lost her in the jungle, unbelievable.

They had her, right until she let out some kind of creature made of fire from her body - it knocked everyone down, made Loki feel like he was being cooked, and then disappeared into the sky. And then, Bloom jumped over the waterfall and disappeared into the wind, rain, and dark.

Fantastic, now he knows where he'll see her next: New York, exactly like the device at her side said for some reason.

* * *

Loki can't believe it, he actually lost. He had an army against six people and his sister, the entire city was scared stiff, he had every advantage - numbers, time, everything - yet he somehow still lost.

What's more worrying than how he lost though, is what Bloom did to make it so he'd lose. He's never seen her so much as look twice at the ale on Asgard when she was growing up, yet now she's swaying and slurring her words like she's completely drunk.

When she collapses immediately after getting them to Asgard however, it quickly becomes clear that it's because she's used far too much magic all at once - the more magic you use, and the more complicated the spell, the more it taxes you. Loki's fairly certain she should have been asleep long before now, considering the fact that she was shaky directly after the battle.

* * *

 **SPOILER! GotG: Guardians of the Galaxy**


	8. Birthday?

**AN: I know, the next chapter is up! Sorry it's even shorter than normal, but how much can you really write about how Bloom doesn't yet know the exact day she was born? Either way, I've got one question for everyone. Do you want me to skip over her captivity in Cloudtower's dungeons, or write something about that? Please review for an answer! Enjoy! More chapters coming soon!**

* * *

A bit after Spring Break is over, Musa says her father took her to the Song Wharf for her birthday over Spring Break - then they end up sharing when their birthdays are.

When it comes to Bloom, she takes a minute to realize they're all looking at her expectantly. "What?"

Flora says "We were saying when our birthdays are."

Bloom's look is completely blank, like the fact never mattered to her before, but then she says "Right…um…"

Stella screeches "You don't know your birthday?!"

"I was adopted! They said I just came out of nowhere one day! Literally! Nobody had ever seen me before, why would they know when I was born?!"

Techna says "She makes a valid point. Her adoptive family wouldn't have had any idea about how old she was aside from estimation. So, it's not that illogical to assume Bloom doesn't know her exact date of birth."

Bloom shrugs uncomfortably, and says "Mother says I was about a year old when I arrived, but that's about it. Aside from that, I don't know." She goes back to the book she was reading, hoping to get off the topic; no such luck, Stella then asks about the day she was found and adopted - and the reason why nobody had ever seen her before that day.

Bloom can't answer the first question as she doesn't know the exact day, and because she doesn't want to say her birth planet has been destroyed, but she says "Because I came from this universe apparently, and I ended up in another one entirely. Can we please move to a different topic already?"

Techna asks "Why did you grow up in another universe if you were born in this one? It doesn't really make any sense."

"I was a year old! How many people do you know that can remember something from that point in their lives?!"

Musa says "Good point, Bloom. Fair enough."

Bloom doesn't dare ask why they wanted to know when her birthday was, something that never came up in all the time she was with Daphne, but if it's getting a new dress with Stella she's happy to tag along for someone else's - Stella can somehow spend _forever_ in a virtual dressing room, Bloom doesn't mind it just gets really annoying after about the tenth hour or so when she hasn't eaten anything between dresses.

It's not the staying-in-the-dressing-room part she minds, or the trying-on-a-million-dresses, it's the fact that Stella doesn't stop to take a break for anything; food, drink, bathroom, fresh air, _anything._ After a while, it wears on anyone.

Finally, they get the hint that Bloom would very much like to change the subject to something else, and get into talking about their next group assignment.


	9. Head Games

**AN: One person, Foxchick1, wanted to see this, so here it is! A look at Bloom's time as Valtor's prisoner. Read for yourself, hope you all like it.**

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Bloom is sitting on the stone she picked out to make her escape route, half her attention completely focused on breaking the spells keeping her here and the other half listening for the Trix - or worse, Valtor himself.

She's had only a few visits from that monster, but each of them reminds her exactly why she needs to get out of this hellhole. As if the hundreds of suppression spells weren't a constant reminder, a crushing weight she can't shake off, Valtor's occasional visits to try and break her fighting spirit are absolute torture.

She thinks she's figured out the underlying reason for her kidnapping, underneath the fact that she's got the best chance at stopping him: revenge against her birth parents. They beat him once, they were the reason he was locked away for so long in Omega, so now he's taking his revenge out on her in lieu of them.

 _They should have killed him when they had the chance._

The thought bursts into Bloom's head abruptly, but she doesn't try to argue or deny it - Valtor's a monster in the shape of a man, she'd kill him herself if she could. She's never killed anyone before, but this guy has done far too much to get a shred of pity or hesitation from her.

She's heard stories on Asgard of captives bonding with their captors - no such luck here, she's stuck in this dingy little cell with so much magical weight on her that she can hardly breathe, the only thing she feels for Valtor is a burning hatred that keeps her warm even when her magic can't come to her fingers.

She hears clicking footsteps, and immediately hunches over - only the Trix come down here every day, planning new ways to torment her out loud or arguing about Valtor. On the bright side, it gives her plenty of warning as to their approach.

"Did you see the way he blasted that sucker through two walls on the last planet we raided? He's so strong!" Darcy, she's got a voice as smooth as silk and her lies are equally as hard to detect.

"Yeah, but how about the fact that he shot _lightning_ from his hands and electrocuted four guards? That was amazing!" Stormy, with her vicious love of hurting others.

"Yes, well, we're stuck down here babysitting one beaten fairy who just won't give up. What a shame I can't show Valtor how strong I am." Icy, a voice as cold as Jotunheim and powers to match.

Bloom rolls her eyes, but doesn't say anything - listening to them bicker and argue has been one of the few things that's kept her sane all this time. Icy's face appears in the tiny windows, and she says "Well, looks like she's still alive, sisters. Ready to just give up yet, Bloom?"

"Mm, no. Ready to accept that he'll never want any of you?"

Darcy and Stormy crowd around Icy at that, and Darcy says "Really? What would you know about it?"

"Well, he keeps sending you down to keep a prisoner who can't get out from getting out. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was getting you out of the way. Or maybe he's keeping me entertained, because listening to you three bicker and squabble over a monster like him is actually _very_ funny." Stormy growls and shoots arcs of lightning at her, but the magic in the door sends them flying right back to her. "Oh, and that. I just _love_ when that happens. But, say I'm wrong and Valtor does want one of you. Who?"

They all look at one another, and Darcy scoffs and says "Nice try Bloom, we're not falling for that again."

"Really, which one of you does he favor the most? Icy, the girl with a heart to match her name and powers? Darcy, the girl who lies as much as him? Or Stormy, the girl with a temper that ends up making a mess of everything? He sends you all down here to guard the most powerful person in existence, the one who shares the same source of power as him, to what? Prevent her from getting out? Keep himself from coming down here?" She knows she's got them right where she wants them, she knows exactly which buttons to press to drive the Trix up to Valtor for a few hours.

Stormy growls and says "Your bluffing. You don't know any-"

"I know he's power-hungry. I know you three only want him because he's stronger than you. I know he offered me the chance to join him back on Andros. I know I've still got the Dragon Flame, and I know it makes me far stronger than you three combined. So, what do you three think a power-hungry wizard like Valtor would like better? Three witches of average power, or one fairy who has the power that created this universe?"

Icy screams "SHUT UP! YOUR LYING!"

Bloom smirks, and says "Unlike you three, and Valtor, I don't lie. But, if you're so sure I'm deceiving you, ask him about the conversation we had on Andros, after you hit me in the back with that icicle and knocked me out. Ask him why he pulled up that shrine from the bottom of the ocean instead of letting me drown." Like Bloom figured, that sets all three off, and they immediately storm off to find Valtor. Bloom snickers, then goes back to working on the stone she never actually left.

Two hours later, she senses Valtor coming down into the dungeons and immediately stops her work - she lays on the wooden bench, pretending to be asleep. She doesn't even have to open her eyes when Valtor gets in front of the door, she can sense him even through the millions of suppression spells.

"I know your awake, Bloom." He sounds furious, right along with frustrated and annoyed - looks like she picked a perfect time to interrupt his plans then.

She's got one arm under her head, and turns so her nose is buries in her upper arm to look innocently at him. "What? Something wrong? Did a spell raid finally fail and someone take you down a few pegs?"

She doesn't sound at all concerned though, and Valtor says "No, you got the Trix worked up. _Again_."

"Well, then stop sending them down here. What, you expected me to be a good little fairy when you had my heart ground to dust three times over, kidnapped me, and have shoved me in this tiny little cell? Sorry, but playing nice with my captors isn't even _on_ my priority list." She sees the look of pure fury on his face, but the one good thing about all these spells keeping her in is that they're keeping him out. "What? You want to do something? Why don't you come on in and try something? Oh, wait, that would involve opening the door and deactivating all these spells keeping me here."

She starts singing 'Stronger' - which she knows will make him madder than he already is, and she's absolutely right. She doesn't turn to look when he starts up some ridiculous speech about how she's trapped here forever; how the last heir to Domino will die, snuffed out like a candle; she just moves on to 'Waking up in Vegas' and keeps singing until he finally gives up and angrily leaves.

 _Thank you, Loki. You're the one that taught me how to play with people's heads - if only indirectly taught me. Now it's coming to good use._

Bloom smirks up at the ceiling as she keeps singing, feeling a spark of hope in herself for the first time in a _very_ long time.


	10. Safe on Pyros

Bloom's sleeping on the grass on Pyros, and in absolutely no danger of being eaten by a dragon anymore - not since she mixed her essence with that of Pyros.

She earned her Enchantix somehow, Maia says it was through force of will. Bloom privately thinks that if she could earn all the transformations there are by being stubborn, she'd have them already - she learned from the best, after all. Loki was never as open about it, but he was every bit as stubborn as Thor in his own way.

Right now, Bloom is sleeping on the ground like it's nothing - except her sleep isn't very peaceful at the moment. She's tossing around, talking in her sleep, and occasionally tears up the ground with her bare hands, until she suddenly sits straight up and screams - except a stream of fire comes out instead of just a scream that always tears her throat up. That's been happening a lot more recently lately, and it always leaves her mouth tasting like soot and sulfur - not a good taste, she always goes to the stream near her little cave and takes a few mouthfuls of water to get rid of the taste.

When the fire stops, Bloom finds she's shaking from the nightmare - another one about being trapped back in Cloudtower again. Usually, she takes off running in a random direction for a while until she's outrun her fear; she's shaking so badly at the moment that she can't even stand easily.

She can feel fire running through her veins at the moment, and tries to quiet her magic before it escapes her body and gives her away - and when she grabs a nearby tree branch to pull herself up, it snaps off the tree in her hand, and Bloom feels a sharp stab of pain from it as well.

"Oh great, now I'm feeling the plants' pain."

Then, she realizes what just happened, she's channeling Pyros again without realizing it. When she drops the branch, the spot where she was gripping it is crushed in like a giant was pinching it. It's only been a week or so since she fought the Trix and erased their memories of her being here, and ever since she's had these weird episodes of things suddenly breaking in her hands without her even meaning to. She might try to leave the safety of Pyros and go back to Alfea, then fail and pick up a rock to skip over the stream only to find she's throwing dust and a few lucky pebbles where there was a stone the size of her hand before.

She's getting better at it, learning to shut down the strength and control it - but it's every bit as hard as learning to use her powers like everyone else here does so easily. She's noticed other things as well, aside from much better senses - earthquakes happen whenever she gets really angry or scared; it'll start raining when she's sad, harder the sadder she is; the weather will be perfect when she's having a good time, etc.

 _Maia said there might be side-effects. This must be it, I'm connected to this planet. I should be able to leave, but…_

She won't admit to herself that she's scared to death about leaving only to end up stuck in another cell - and she probably wouldn't survive it this time. She's gotten her freedom back, and she's determined to keep it - as determined as Thor was to get his throne, and as determined as Stella always is whenever she sees a piece of clothing that she simply has to have.

Whenever she looks in the stream though, she sees what being in that cell for so long did to her. She's much thinner, there's literally no fat on her at all - or muscle, for that matter, good thing her connection to Pyros makes her so strong - her hair is dull, matted, and a wild, tangled mess, and there's a haunted look in her eyes whenever she stops and takes a look at herself for more than a few moments.

So very different from the last time she looked in an actual mirror, right before the Millennium Party on Eraklyon.

She's long-forgiven Sky for that, it was Diaspro's fault he was under Valtor's spell, but she's so very different from that girl who was nervous about dancing in front of a group of people in dresses and suits. She felt ridiculous then, now she'd just not go to the party altogether. Sky would be hurt, but she can't stand the idea of wearing a dress that constricts her moving and breathing anymore - she's going to go out on a limb here and say that's because of Pyros, because she could tolerate dresses before even though she felt ridiculous and out of place in them.

But here, she's completely free to do whatever she wants - be it go for a four-hour run, go swimming down to the lake Boiling Falls feeds, or go to the volcano and Magma Hot Springs for her ideal spa day - sitting in a boiling-hot hot tub, and a sauna filled with steam - she can do it all.

Bloom sighs, then gets an idea and starts running through the forest. She climbs a tree, then starts jumping from branch to branch and doing acrobatic flips for the fun of it sometimes.

 _Well, one good thing about coming here, I finally got my balance. And nobody can change that._

It's true, she's finally found sure footing; her feet are always under her now. Here on Pyros, you learn fast or you get eaten, and Bloom's always been a fast learner. A few of the things to learn: distance sprinting, balance, and acrobatics; she's learned them all and mastered them. She hasn't so much as stumbled since coming here, which is likely why she survived long enough to meet Maia.

Bloom sees one of the native birds that populate Pyros - it's really a miracle they haven't all been eaten yet, but there seems to be immense amounts of them throughout the whole planet - and goes from a few more branches before smelling the sharp smell of dragon blood.

 _Oh no, what happened?_

Bloom spots a cave nearby, and goes in - and finds a mess of eggshells all around - either some of them hatched badly, or they got eaten. Bloom's willing to bet it's the second case, and the idea horrifies her to some degree - but she can also sense something else.

There's an intact egg in the cave. She finds it lying hidden behind a large rock, and it's the color of her hair with streaks of cyan in it.

"You have to live."

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 **AN: Hey, everybody! I know, few days between updates and all. For everyone that's been keeping up with the original story, I'm sure you recognize this scene! Part of Bloom's wild phase on Pyros, and where she's learning to control her newfound strength - nobody ever said it was easy, I know I sure didn't. Every bit as dangerous as magic, so there's just as much a need to keep it together and work on fine-tuning her control. I'd really hate to be the person who Bloom grabs while not entirely in control of her dragon-side. Anyway, enjoy! Please don't give up on either story! Promise I'm not going to abandon any stories - I actually find it really annoying, right along with massively long waits for a new chapter.**


	11. Delirious Bloom

**AN: This si directly after they got Bloom back to Alfea and got her to drink the antidote for the poison Diaspro used. Turns out a sick Bloom doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to everyone else, and she has _way_ too much survival instinct to be calm about the fact that she's sick. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, couldn't get any chapters loaded onto the site for some reason. They finally fixed it though, yay!**

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Sky's fairly certain life itself is ending - Bloom's sick, she _never_ gets sick. Worse, she's got a fever; and with her fire powers, it's spiking higher than most people would survive. The Winx told him how she cried so much she got sick right after the Millennium Party, but this is something else altogether - she's passed out on the bed, for crying out loud! When he checks her temperature, she's so hot his hand is nearly burned - what in the heck was in that dart Diaspro had?!

They're at Alfea now, and it's been nearly a day since Palladium mixed the antidote for the poison Diaspro used and they somehow managed to get Bloom to take it. That was all Ember, truth be told - they apparently share a mental link, because Ember just went still for a minute and Bloom relaxed almost to the point of going limp.

He turns away to get another rag to put on her forehead, only to turn back and see her sitting upright and about to swing her feet off the bed. "Bloom! No, stop. You're sick, you shouldn't be out of bed."

She answers by growling something, then starts struggling to get out of the sheets. Sky pins her to the bed, grabbing her by the upper arms and keeping her there - it's far easier than he wishes it was, she's a featherweight with no real muscle on her frame.

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Bloom's not really awake, her mind's clouded by her fever, pounding headache, and nausea - she's acting purely on survival instinct at the moment, Pyros driving her actions at the moment. "Bloom…no…sick…bed…" When she feels herself being held down, she immediately starts struggling twice as hard, her strength flaring up for a moment to push one of the hands away. She can't make out more than a few words of whatever's being said, and her head is too clouded to even recognize the familiar voice or the hands holding her down onto the bed _._

 _Who…? Someone…I know…Val…tor…Valtor! NO!_

In a last-ditch effort to be free of whoever is restraining her, her feverish mind coming up with what seems like a reasonable idea for who it is, she unleashes her magic - except it goes way off the mark, though she doesn't know it.

She vaguely hears some sounds, but is too drained by her efforts to process them.

* * *

When Bloom started pushing at Sky's arms, she suddenly got incredibly strong for a split second and easily pushed one hand off her arm - and it was the arm closer to the edge of the bed, which she immediately tried to lunge for. "Bloom, come on. You're sick, you need to stay in bed."

When it didn't work, she tried in vain to dislodge his other hand - he already had the original hand she broke free from back on her shoulders, and her amazing burst of strength had vanished.

When she starts glowing orange, he doesn't dare let go of her - he knows how she can teleport, and in this state she could teleport to the middle of space and die in moments. She suddenly shoots a fireball from her hand in his general direction, but it's four feet off and hits the nearby curtains and sets them on fire. The material is made to resist all forms of magic and destruction, fire being one of the top things on the list, so the fact that it's burning is quite the feat.

Finally, Bloom seems to have exhausted herself in her struggles and is laying there - she's breathing heavily, smoke curling out between her lips at every breath. When Sky slowly relaxes his grip on her, she hardly reacts other than to growl something. He runs his fingers through her hair, pushing her sweaty bangs off her forehead, and whispers "It's okay, Bloom. Your safe, I promise."

Now, finally, her eyes open - they're all pupil, there's hardly any iris to be seen right now. It's obvious she doesn't recognize him at the moment though, judging from the fact that confusion paints itself all over her face. "Thor…what….Magix…how…?"

Sky murmurs coaxingly "Bloom, you should be resting right now. Your burning up, literally, and shaking from this fever."

Bloom grabs onto his shirt, staring at her hand like she doesn't know what it's doing. "Not…Thor…look…alike…no armor…"

Sky's getting more worried by the moment, but whispers "It's Sky, remember? Your Sky." He runs a hand through her hair again, which seems to relax her a little, and says "Sh, just get some rest. Your delirious, Bloom."

"Sky…wind, sun…running…flying…fast, fun…red…foun…tain…"

One hand reaches for him, and he takes it gently. "Bloom, it's me. Sky, your boyfriend. We're at Alfea, remember?"

"Wind…trees…grass, sun…running…dra…gons…Pyros…"

Sky shakes his head, and says "No, Magix city. Alfea, college for Fairies. You've been on Pyros for a while, but when we found you Diaspro had followed us and poisoned you. Remember?"

Bloom's looking around now, seeming half-desperate for something. "What's wrong? Bloom, tell me what you want." She growls something in response, which is when Sky decides she's probably going to pass out at some point. "Alright, I think that translates to 'the sheets covering me up again.' Which is what you're getting. Hey, easy, I'm not going to hurt you or anything. I'm right here, it's alright, just relax."

He keeps talking to her as he pulls the sheets back over her, which she immediately starts struggling against, and says "Bloom, listen. You need to rest. Diaspro tried to kill you, and you're not out of the woods just because we stopped the poison from doing any more damage than it already had."

When she tries to use one hand to prop herself up, he gently takes it from under her weight and kisses the back of it, saying "You need to get better, Bloom." When that doesn't seem to get any response out of her, he leans down and kisses her lips lightly, then buries his hand in her hair on top of her head. He starts moving his thumb in a small circle on her temple, which seems to nearly put her to sleep - maybe it helps with the pounding headache she must have.

When it looks like she's finally out again, he goes and grabs the rag he threw back into the sink - because her fever really is worrying him a lot, fire powers or no fire powers. And who the heck is Thor?


	12. Bad at Being Sick

**AN: Set maybe a day or two after the last chapter - the one where Bloom was delirious and thought Sky was Thor. Turns out a really sick Bloom doesn't make a whole lot of sense most of the time, not unless you know her entire life story at any rate. I'm thinking massive fevers that would kill anyone else, for the most part. She's got fire powers, after all. And maybe things blowing up, as she's not used to being sick.**

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Bloom wakes up in a room - that alone is cause enough for concern to her, she hasn't been in a building in a long time. The panic coursing through her has her sitting up straight, despite her spinning head, and looking around at the place.

After a full minute sorting out details - because the room is spinning with her head - she realizes she's in the Alfea Infirmary. That calms her panic, and then she remembers what happened on Pyros - the Winx and Specialists finding her, the dart getting propelled into her shoulder, waking up on the Owl, talking with Sky. Her hand instinctively moves to her shoulder, but there's no hole or mark there - her entire body hurts though, and she feels like she could throw up if she stays sitting up like this.

Weirdly enough, she also has _a really_ fuzzy memory of talking with someone who might have been Sky, but she doesn't know when that was or even if it was Sky.

Ember gets her attention suddenly, jumping up onto the bed and licking her face with her sandpaper-rough tongue. It's like getting licked by a cat, and it's soothing to Bloom at the moment. "Come on, Ember. Let's see about getting out of here - this room, at least."

She stands up unsteadily, and the whole room starts spinning around three times as fast as before - she doesn't care, and makes her way over to the door. She gets out of it this time, and makes her way through the hallway - leaning heavily on it, but still. Of course, not even a minute after she gets out, she walks around the corner and right into Stella, Flora, and Sky.

Stella crushes her in a hug, Flora hugs her not nearly as hard, and asks "What are you doing out of bed, Bloom?"

Bloom breathes out "I'm alright…" and closes her eyes against the whole world's spinning.

Suddenly she's leaning against Sky's chest, and he says "Yeah, I'm not buying that. Considering you just fell right into me, I'd say you still need to be in bed, Bloom." He puts his hand to her forehead, and finds she's still burning up - fire magic or not, she won't survive a fever if she just keeps making it worse.

Stella says "We'll get Techna, Musa, and Aisha, tell them your awake. Sky, can you-"

"Right, take her back to her room. On it." He picks Bloom up bridal style before she can protest, and starts carrying her back to the room she just got out of. She tries to make him put her down, but she's still too weak to do much - and she stops when Ember climbs up Sky's leg and curls up in her stomach with her head in the crook of Bloom's neck.

Sky places her on the bed, despite her still verbally protesting, and sits down on a chair next to the bed saying "Bloom, listen. You're still not over whatever poison it is Diaspro used. You could hardly stand in the hallway, and you feel like you've got the fever to end all fevers. Also, you were delirious before, you were hardly coherent and called me 'Thor.'" Before she can try to argue, Sky grabs a piece of ice from a nearby bucket of it, and presses it to her forehead - it starts melting immediately.

She doesn't try to argue after that, but she does try to pick Ember up - likely so she can sit up. Sky takes her nearest hand in his, and Bloom starts stroking Ember's scales instead. As the young dragon thrums and wriggles around so Bloom can pet more of her body, Sky says "You're not good at being sick, are you?"

Bloom says "Never been sick a day in my life, Sky - not counting the day after the Millennium Party. And I'm not about to start laying around all day just because of Diaspro." She sounds annoyed and frustrated, but the not-letting-Diaspro-win-this-round thing is ruined when she starts coughing out smoke and embers. When she stops coughing, she weakly says "Damn, what was in that thing?"

Sky says "Some poison, Professor Palladium says it should have killed you." He leans forward and wraps his arms around her again, whispering "Don't ever get kidnapped like this time ever again, Bloom. I've been so worried about you."

Bloom immediately tenses up in his arms, and Sky asks "What's wrong? Bloom, what's wrong?" Instead of answering, her whole body starts trembling and the room temperature starts rising.

Ember starts growling and nuzzling Bloom's neck and cheek, almost like she's trying to comfort Bloom or calm her down - or just get her attention away from the topic. Bloom's breathing hitches, and Sky wraps his arms around her protectively, saying "Bloom, it's over. I promise, it's over. He's dead, you don't have to be scared."

As an answer, Bloom grabs onto his shirt and doesn't let go or even loosen her hold - she's got one heck of a tight hold on him, despite the fact that she's so much thinner than he remembers. That's worrying him a lot, she was not a challenge to carry - on Pyros or here at Alfea - and he definitely remembers her being at least fifteen pounds heavier than she is now. All in all, she looks like a bony stick of a person, at least she can still eat a normal amount of food and her stomach isn't caved into her spine.

Suddenly, the door opens and five girls run into the room. Musa throws herself into a hug with Bloom, Techna calmly walks over, and Aisha jogs over to the bedside. Ember twists underneath Musa to get facing the right direction to start sniffing her face and neck, making Musa laugh because her smoky breath tickles.

Bloom lets go of Sky's shirt at the sight of her friends, and relaxes into Musa's hug immediately. "Hey girls, how's it been?"

Musa nearly screams "We missed you _so_ much! You've been waltzing around a forest all this time? And raising this little cutie dragon?!" Musa starts tickling Ember on her softer belly, making her squirm and crawl under Bloom's arm to escape her fingers.

Bloom laughs and says "Aw, come here. It's alright, Ember. Musa wasn't hurting you." Ember looks out from Bloom's side, and growls something, making Bloom laugh. "Silly hatchling, come here."

Bloom pulls Ember out and places her on her lap, and Flora says "She's so adorable!"

Stella says "She'd better not eat any of my clothes, or we'll have some boundaries to work out." Even so, she runs her hand along Ember's spine, making the small dragon arch up under her hand.

Bloom laughs and says "Don't worry, Stell. Ember likes fruit, not fabric." Bloom swings her legs out of the bed, but five girls tackle her at once and push her back onto the pillow. "Hey!"

Techna gets out of the pile and does a scan of Bloom, which shows she's still feeling dizzy, her temperature is elevated over ten degrees past her normal temperature. "Girls, I'm fine! Look, sitting up, talking, want to go get something to eat, any of this sound like normal behavior to you?"

They all stare at Bloom, and Musa mutters "This is gonna be a _looong_ recovery, girls."

Flora snaps her fingers, and a bow full of liquid appears in front of Bloom - it's a sleeping potion she made, turns out she might have to make more though. Bloom drinks it dry, then yawns to reveal a glowing throat and asks "That was a sleeping potion, wasn't it?"

Flora says "Yeah…why aren't you sleeping yet?"

"Jus' slept for how 'ong? Don' wanna…lay 'round….all day…" Bloom closes her eyes and leans against Sky, making all of them sigh in relief, and Ember start sniffing Bloom's face and the bowl she's still holding.

Musa asks "Exactly how long can we keep her in bed if we all have classes? The school nurse can try, but…"

Stella finishes "It's Bloom we're talking about. She found a way out of that cell, the school Infirmary is not nearly that hard."

Techna says "On the bright side, her own innate Healing magic should make for a faster recovery. Sky, was there anything else? Coughing, vomiting, etc.?"

Sky says "Yeah, she coughed up smoke and embers. Don't ask me why, maybe it's related to how strong she is at times despite, well…" He gestures to her, and they get the message: she's so thin she doesn't look like she could carry a textbook, much less crush them all like she did back on Pyros.

Techna does another scan, and says "Alright, remember what Mrs. Faragonda told us? About how Bloom mixed her magical essence with that of Pyros?" They all nod, and she says "Well, looks like it had a few side-effects. Fire-breathing, the strength of a dragon, etc."

Musa asks "Do you think maybe it made her even warmer than she already was? Like her fever isn't as bad as we think, because her body got even warmer than before with the fire-breathing and stuff?"

Techna says "It's possible, but we won't know for sure until she's beaten the poison."

Bloom turns over in her sleep, growling something and setting the corner of the sheet on fire unconsciously, and they catch Valtor's name. Flora says "Bloom, sweetie, it's alright. It's just a bad dream."

Sky puts a hand on her shoulder, and she tosses and turns over and faces him - and then his leg and arm are in a death-grip worse than anything he's ever experienced before. He swears she's strong enough to snap his femur in two like a brittle twig if she moves wrong, and he starts working at her hands to keep that from happening. "Girls? Little help! Not that I don't like Bloom holding onto me - especially after losing her - but she's holding on just a little tightly!"

They all get the hint, and try to free Sky's leg before he can't walk - they get it after a few minutes, but largely with Ember's help. Ember curls up in Bloom's arms, and she settles down after a minute or so.

Aisha says "Musa? Scratch what you said before. It's going to be a _really, really_ long recovery if Bloom gets nightmares about what happened."

Flora frantically asks "What did they do to Bloom?!"

Techna says "We'll just have to ask when she wakes up. Which should be in about six hours, assuming Flora's calculations were right."

Flora looks indignant, and says "You know everything there is to know about technology, and I know plants and potions!"

Sky doesn't say a word, running his hand through Bloom's hair - he can tell more damage was done than Bloom let on back on Pyros, but he's pretty sure she won't want to talk about it. Just like refusing to stay down and let herself get better - despite burning up with a fever or even still having poison in her system, on the Owl for instance - he's certain she won't admit that whatever it is that happened to her while Valtor's prisoner was anything more than annoying, boring, and a very long time to de-spell a brick.

 _Get better, Bloom. I need you to get better._


	13. Diaspro's Back

**AN: Big time skip guys, sorry I haven't updated in a while! Been writing a Lab Report, and it turns out they suck! Anyway, had this idea and it panned out! Hooray! More updates coming soon on both of these stories - hopefully not too long a wait - but it turns out IW 1 and 2 are 364 days apart - May 4 this year for IW1 and May 3 next for IW2. BOOO! So please expect a long wait in that gap, unfortunately enough, and possibly a new story and many more chapters on this story. Sorry, but I kind of have to have something to work off of - like when GotG meets Avengers and how. Enjoy, not giving up on either story! Review please, if you have ideas or comments.**

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Sky can't believe it, one of the guards told him that Diaspro had been recently sighted in Eraklyon but managed to avoid the guards.

To make things worse, one of the servants in the palace said he thought he saw her inside, but he's not sure - likely because of the spell that was on him when he was found by a guard. Bloom's text came a little too late, she was already in the palace.

The guards are trying to find her, but Sky's more worried about why Bloom would think she was helping the Trix to escape Lightrock. Their powers have been taken away from them again, and they're not going anywhere - all the more reason why they'd need someone to help them escape, but still - but there's no reason why they'd go to Diaspro for help. The thought that they have Valtor and Bloom in common, Valtor aided them in one way or another and they all hate Bloom, is a pretty good reason why they'd get help from her, but how they managed to coordinate this, if it's really Diaspro, is another mystery altogether.

 _Knew I should have had Diaspro locked away instead of just banished, old friends or not._

Sky's still furious at her about Bloom's poisoning, any chance that they could put the past behind them died at that. He had thought _maybe,_ after a few years for Diaspro to cool off and get over herself, they could still be friends - not so much after she put a spell she got from Valtor on him - but trying to kill Bloom was the final straw.

Maybe, just maybe, she could have been ignorant of the magic in the drink she gave him, or had no idea about Valtor's plans that were only possible because Bloom was weakened by her heartache, but trying to kill Bloom is like confessing to knowing about everything.

Bloom says she's psychotic and obsessed, and Sky couldn't agree more - trying to kill the person he loves because it isn't her definitely counts as obsession. Bloom's even taken to calling her the stalker-ex - not an unfitting name, all things considering. And given the way Bloom's been nervous and cagey lately, ever since coming back to Alfea, he's halfway certain she's just going to die from Bloom's knife buried in her chest one day.

He's pulled out of his thoughts when the captain of the Guard marches up to him and says "Your Highness, we've cornered ex-princess Diaspro in the library. We haven't gotten close enough to capture her, but she's trapped with no exits."

Sky nods, but knows Diaspro knows how to teleport - she did it to him a number of times when she was feeling bored or decided she wanted to talk with him.

 _Glad Bloom's never done something like that to me, it was getting really annoying._

When he gets to the library with the guards, but finds only an open book on the table with some pages torn out of it. Sky takes one look at it and nearly lets out a series of curses - she's gone, likely off to Lightrock and the Trix if Bloom's right.

Suddenly, his phone rings with the caller ID saying it's Bloom on the other end. "Bloom, what did they say?" He called her shortly after seeing her text, and she said she was with her brothers but couldn't just leave them. He hears a resigned sigh from the other end of the phone, and can guess how it went down.

 _What I knew they would say. How fast can you come to Earth?_

"Fast enough. I can be there in a few hours if I gun it."

 _Gun it, as hard and as long as you can. I'll be in a college in Greenwich. My brothers will be there to, along with some scientists, including Jane Foster._

Sky feels a jolt of shock run through him at the name, Timmy hasn't stopped talking about her since she came out with one very improbable theory - especially one from Earth. "The scientist Timmy has been talking about recently? He says she came up with some wild theory about-"

 _The theory's true, and yes, that's the scientist._

She sounds way too sure about that for her not to have some insider information on it, but Sky has bigger things to worry about than Bloom's connections to a woman on Earth. "Bloom, you were right about Diaspro. Maybe an hour after you called last night, the guard cornered her in the library. She took some pages from an ancient spellbook, then vanished."

Bloom sounds worried and tired as they keep talking, something really bad must have happened. _Which book? Maybe we can narrow down what they are planning._

Sky looks at the book she left and says "The cover says Restoration Spells. _"_

 _Crud, that's a pretty big field on its own. There are dozens of different Restoration spells. There are spells to restore the mind, spells to restore the body, spells to restore the…_ Bloom trails off, she must know what Diaspro's game is.

"Bloom? What's wrong?"

 _Sky, get here as fast as you can, I know what they are planning._

* * *

When Sky meets her in the college she told him about, he can immediately tell something is very wrong - he can read her like a book, and what he's reading is grief and frustration. "Bloom? What happened?"

Bloom looks like she's about to cry, so Sky doesn't wait for an answer and just wraps her in a hug. His shoulder feels wet after a moment, and her whole frame starts shaking from the sobs racking her.

He tries to comfort her, but figures that's not happening when she says something about her mother and breaks down completely. Something drops into the pit of Sky's stomach, Bloom never had a bad word to say about her adoptive mother - she was caring, she always had time for her young daughter, she always knew how to make something better. Bloom isn't much of a crier anymore, not without a reason to cry that's not minor anyway, so something really bad must have happened.

Sky doesn't say he understands, because he doesn't; he doesn't say he's sorry for her loss or anything, even though he is; he holds Bloom even tighter and starts murmuring to her comfortingly.

She cries herself out eventually, her sobs ending in small growls dying down to hiccupping gasps for breath. Sky kisses her hair, which she responds to by tightening her arms around him - up to the point of crushing him a little. "Mm, Bloom, you're a little tight…" Her arms loosen, and he says "Alright, it'll probably take your brothers and whoever else is coming time to get here. What happened?" Bloom looks up at him, then hugs him and buries her face in his shoulder again. "Shh, it's okay, I'm not going anywhere. It's alright, Bloom."

Sky leads her away from the invisible ship, and they eventually end up sitting on the ground. He can tell she's been 'convincing' everyone to go inside - mainly by absorbing the heat from the air, not that there was a whole lot of it to begin with. It's not warm here this time of year, so there wasn't a whole lot of heat to try and absorb into herself - and everyone quickly went inside to escape the dropping temperatures before long.

Bloom tells him everything that happened, nearly breaking down into tears again more than once, and Sky patiently listens to the whole explanation. Now he gets why she never went into specifics about her family or childhood before - the girls said she deliriously told them she was raised on Asgard, a place of Norse legends and myths here on Earth, now it's looking like it was true and she wasn't delirious. And the time she thought he was Thor, apparently they look similar.

He also knows nobody in Magix or anywhere else in the entire dimension would have believed her if she just came out and said she grew up in a place that even people in the closest known world or realm over didn't think was real - which is why she never gave anything more specific than 'this universe' - smart on her part. She never actually lied, just gave answers vague enough to be the truth - she was raised in this universe, everyone thought she was talking about this planet because that's the only place people there knew of.

She also gives him the details about her latest adventure, and a possible explanation for why Diaspro and the Trix are planning all this now - she destroyed something powerful called the Aether two days ago, it's apparently on the same level as the Dragon Flame in power. Understandably, she's very drained from that - and from the fight that happened a day ago, she was passed out for a few hours from that.

Oh, and Bloom completely blames herself for her adoptive mother, Frigga, dying - she was destroying the Aether while Frigga was distracting the Dark Elf who was after it to return this universe to one of darkness.

Sky would try to say she had to destroy it, because it was using a human for a host and was rapidly killing her according to Bloom's description, except he knows it won't do any good - she seems set on thinking she's too dangerous to be around, Sky doesn't care about the dangers though and knows her brothers won't care either. She sounded so worried about what they would think if they learned about the source of her powers, Sky can't believe that her family would reject her like she was fearing - she was thinking they'd be afraid of her, or worse.

Twenty minutes later, they're sitting on the ground and Bloom's got her hood pulled up when Sky spots a group of people walking through the campus carrying some really weird equipment. And two of them can only be her brothers - they're wearing armor, and the guy with the black hair is heading right for them despite the fact that Sky's never seen him before and Bloom's got her hood pulled up.

 _Jeez, the blonde guy really does look a lot like me. Must be Thor._


	14. Missing King

**AN: A look at everything going on behind the scenes of Bloom's insanely dangerous life! Takes place moments after Bloom gets on the ship with Sky back in Greenwich and her brothers go through her shortcut to Asgard. A look at exactly why Loki was in New York and trying to get the Tesseract for Thanos - because the mere mention of the guy shut him up in that vision thing he did in the movie with the Spear.**

* * *

Loki and Thor walk through Bloom's portal, and find they're back in her room - how she finds the strength to do all this stuff when she was nearly passed out before is beyond them, but they are really glad she finds it.

Loki could tell she and Sky were more than just friends, but he didn't say anything at the time because there was more important things going on - like trying not to get killed in a fight, because Bloom would never forgive them that one. Thor noticed how she seems to trust this Sky but he didn't say a word about it either - besides, he seems like a good person, Bloom can take retribution on him very easily if he turns out to be like Fandral, and they have the Scrying bowl to keep in touch with her.

Both of them are in quiet debate about what they're going to tell Allfather to explain the whole mess, especially since Bloom had apparently destroyed the Aether during the Dark Elves' attack on Asgard. Bloom said she's willingly take the punishment for their plan if they were in trouble, but neither of them want her to be punished for this.

When they get into the Grand Hall, however, Odin is nowhere to be found. In fact, he's not anywhere in the whole palace - they search everywhere, he's just missing.

Loki quietly says "Thor, this is bad. Very bad. I've been on the throne - not for very long, I know - but Asgard relies on its ruler more than you know. We grew up thinking Asgard was a perfect society, but a few hours on the throne disillusioned me of that rapidly. And neither of us wants to be on the throne anymore - if you were at all wondering, I don't want that thing anymore, I never wanted it to begin with."

Thor sighs, and says "But the fact remains, all the more so with your revelation, Asgard needs a ruler - it needs Allfather."

Loki throws his hands up in the air and says "Yes, Asgard needs Odin. But he's not here, and…no. Thor, no, that's a terrible idea."

"You haven't even heard it!"

"Thor, you want me to impersonate Odin until we can find him. I'm telling you, it's a worse idea than going to Jotunheim. And that was the worst idea you'd had in centuries."

Thor says "You let the Frost Giants in Asgard in the first place."

Loki scowls, and says "Yes, but that was a bit of payback for all the years of Bloom and I 'knowing our places.' She was tired of it as well, had hoped that the throne would keep you too occupied to berate and belittle her. I didn't know it would spiral so out of hand so fast."

"You encouraged me to go!"

"I was trying to calm you down, Thor. You usually calmed down from a rage if someone agreed with you! I tried to stop you from going, telling you it was madness. But you didn't listen, despite saying I was wise not a minute before."

Thor can't argue with that, he knows full-well it's true to the last letter. "Brother, that's the whole reason? Everything that's happened, the Frost Giants getting in, you leaving Asgard by letting go of Father's spear, New York, all that was because of me?"

Loki looks away, and says "I set the ball rolling, I didn't know how very far it would roll. But, in essence, yes, that's why I postponed your Coronation. Now, here we are."

Thor mutters "I was a fool, Loki. An arrogant fool, I know that now. And I know little else aside from my banishment and meeting Jane would have made me realize this. When I tried to lift Mjolnir, I couldn't. The shock of having my powers in reach and not being able to use them, it was jarring - you saying Father was dead, that was even worse though. Though you deceived me, you also enlightened me to my foolishness. For that, I thank you."

Loki sighs, and says "I was trying to keep things from going as far as I could at first, then I discovered my secret parentage - I may have lost it for a while there, gone mad like you saked yesterday. The Bifrost being destroyed by Bloom, however, that shocked me back to reality with the fact that the power came from Bloom. She'd never shown a power like that before - not counting Jotunheim, where she burst into fire and collapsed."

"She was out for days after the Bifrost was destroyed, then immediately knew something was wrong when you weren't there."

"Not surprising, given what we know now. Destroying the Bifrost would have taken a massive amount of energy, especially going as strong as it was. But back to the problem at hand, how exactly am I supposed to impersonate Odin? I know you're going to say illusions, but I can't act like him convincingly!"

"You've spent more time on the throne than I have, brother. That gives you an edge - aside from the fact that you're the one who can do illusions, another point for you doing this."

"Why can't you just take the throne for the time being until we find him? I'll have a lot more time to search for him if I'm not on the throne all the time."

Thor sighs and says "Brother, I have to protect the Nine Realms. If trouble is brewing on Midgard, they won't be too happy if you show up instead of me."

Loki sighs, knowing it's true and knowing why it's true. "Yes, well, that part notwithstanding, what about the rest of Asgard? If they find out I'm impersonating Odin? People may tolerate me, but I seriously doubt they'll take the news too well that I'm the one sitting on the throne without their knowledge. Thor, this plan has so many holes and ways it can go wrong, that I might as well have taken Gungir to it! Many times!"

"I know, but do you have any better ideas? You said it yourself, Asgard needs Odin."

Loki sighs and says "No, I don't. But I do know that you'll have to fly around the Nine Realms like a madman to keep any uprisings or real threats from occurring. And I know that I'm going to go mad myself now, really."

Thor quietly asks "Why did you do it, Brother? New York, all of it? Things aren't adding up, Bloom and I talked about it until she had to leave again - we're missing something, we know it."

Loki sighs, figuring he'd have to dodge questions eventually - these questions, what happened to him to make him want to invade Midgard. "Thor, if I tell you, you have to swear Bloom won't find out. I mean it, Thor. You meant it during your Coronation when you swore to protect the Nine Realms, you have to mean this even more. Otherwise you won't get anything out of me."

Thor studies Loki's face - which is turned away from him, staring at a wall - and quietly says "You're afraid. Loki, what happened?"

"Swear, first. Swear Bloom will never hear of this."

Thor looks closely at Loki, and sees the same stubbornness Bloom showed when they'd finally reached her limit and she wouldn't give another detail to them. "I swear."

Loki glances at him out of the corner of his eye, then sighs and says "At first, I fell. I fell for one _very_ long stretch of time. Then, I was found. Found by a man named Thanos, and his minion. The Other, he's called." Thor swears Loki's going pale, and he can feel the temperature dropping fast as Loki goes on, but he doesn't interrupt once. After one extremely long, and horrifyingly torturous explanation of how Loki's will was beaten and finally broken, how all Asgard's secrets were ripped from him through beatings, whippings, and things too dark to even imagine, Loki's finally done. He lets out a strangled laugh that Thor swears was born of a sob, and says "Now you know. Satisfied?"

"Why didn't you tell me this before? On Midgard, I asked you who was controlling you! You simply dodged the question, why didn't you-"

"Thor, you don't understand. Thanos isn't someone you can fight. He's not someone _anyone_ can fight. Had I turned on him, or failed - like I did, thank you for that death-sentence right there - he'd have killed me. Killed me in the most gruesome, horrifying way possible. And if I hadn't agreed to try and get the Tesseract willingly, he'd have just used the Spear on me, controlled my mind and given me no choice - honestly, I'm still amazed he gave me a choice in the first place. No, I didn't _want_ to invade Midgard, I _did_ want to get as far away from that monster as it's possible to be. Not that anyone would have cared, Thanos was listening through the whole thing(1) - I had to play my part or he'd have known."

"So, when you locked me in that cage…"

"Thor, we all know you've survived far worse than that. It wouldn't have killed you, we both know that."

"And Bloom?"

"I didn't want her to get hurt. They were shooting bullets already! Why do you think I told the mercenary to knock her out instead of kill her?"

"The Tesseract needed an extremely powerful source of heat to break through a protective cooling layer. Who else do we know that can _control_ fire?"

"I didn't know that! All I knew was that Selvig needed Iridium for some machine! We went to get it, because Barton said he knew where to get some and he needed a distraction. Believe you me, what happened in Germany was nothing compared to what I saw between leaving Asgard and returning to Midgard." There's ice on the floor now, and Loki lets out a near-hysterical laugh that sounds on the edge of madness. Thor remembers asking if Loki had gone mad, now he thinks maybe his response wasn't nearly as sarcastic as he thought.

Thor sighs, then hugs Loki before he can react. Loki immediately tenses up, exactly like Bloom did; Thor internally groans, knowing Loki is likely going to be every bit as hardheaded as he and Bloom can be. "Well, there's nobody better-protected on Asgard than the King."

Loki sighs, and mutters "Low blow, Thor. Really, is that the best argument you could think of?" He sighs again though, and says "Fine, I'll do it. But I'm not fighting Thanos. And Thor, Bloom can't know. Thanos has a habit of razing civilizations and taking a 'daughter' from them. I met two of them, Nebula and Gamora. He trained them both to be ruthless, moral-less assassins loyal to him alone. And Nebula…he changed her. Replaced parts of her with machinery whenever she lost to Gamora in a duel. Last I saw her, she was more machine than person."

Thor looks horrified anew, and says "Bloom won't hear a word of this from me if it'll keep her out of his hands." Loki won't admit it, and Thor won't bring it up, but they both know there's another reason why Loki doesn't want Bloom to know - and it's not her explosive temper. She always looked up to him, and he doesn't want that to change. "Loki, does anyone else-"

"No! Nobody else knows. Mother didn't, Father didn't." Loki nearly chokes up at the mention of Frigga, and quickly looks away at the floor.

"Listen to me, Loki. If he attacks Asgard, tell Bloom that you know of him and that he's dangerous and evil."

"Thor, she'll want to know _how_ I know of him. You weren't there, but she got her hands on the Spear in Germany. The glowing end of it. A reaction happened with her powers, and her mind got sent off to the other end of space in a vision or something. She and The Other talked, along with some guy with a red skull for a face - no, I'm really not lying. She knows about The Other, would recognize him at least. If she goes looking for him, she will find Thanos."

"Then she just has to not have a reason to go looking for him. Look, she said her life was dangerous enough, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"But, that will keep her occupied for some time, yes?"

"Yes, possibly, but-"

"But nothing. Loki, that alone will keep her focused on her own battles for the time being. She's currently looking for the blonde woman, Diaspro. They have an entire universe - one that doesn't have Thanos - to search, that alone will take a good chunk of time. You keep everyone thinking Allfather is still here, I'll keep the Nine Realms safe - and keep a lookout for Thanos and any of his minions, along with Allfather - and neither of us mention this when Bloom is around." Loki hesitantly nods, looking more vulnerable then Thor can ever remember.

 _The last person who looked like that was Bloom last night, I can't seem to protect my siblings - how am I supposed to protect nine Realms?_

* * *

1: Thanos seems to know when people have failed him - Age of Ultron, the teaser scene after the main movie showed him putting on the Infinity Guantlet and saying he'd 'do it himself.' That means he knew about everything that was happening, so he'd likely know about Loki's defeat.


End file.
